Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling breaks silence as pressure mounts on England boss Gareth Southgate

Chelsea winger and England star Raheem Sterling has been speaking to the media ahead of the dead rubber Germany UEFA Nations League game as pressure continues to ramp up on Gareth Southgate.

Sterling, alongside Blues teammates Reece James, Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell, was selected for this current international break but just like with Ivan Toney who was left out of the squad for the Italy game, the Blues’ left-back suffered the same fate.

Therefore the trio were in Milan to witness and play their part in the dire 1-0 relegation loss at the hands of Roberto Mancini’s side, who missed out on World Cup qualification for the November tournament following their play-off defeat to North Macedonia.

Giacomo Raspadori’s individual goal was not met by a Three Lions response as Southgate’s side have gone more than 550 minutes now without netting in all competitions.

Not ideal timing ahead of the Qatar World Cup. Amid all the pressure from the fans, some of whom want to see a change of manager, it is understood that Southgate will still be the man to take England to the Middle East for the tournament.

This hasn’t gone down well with a section of supporters on social media but Sterling has backed the former Middlesbrough manager to bounce back and has tried to pour water onto the fire in this situation.

Speaking ahead of the Germany UEFA Nations League game, he said in the press conference:

“It’s not a time to panic. He [Gareth Southgate] has shown what he brings to the team in the last couple of years and he’s someone that all the boys trust and someone that we all want to follow in his direction.

“I don’t think these last couple of games changes this narrative. I think the narrative needs to be ‘can we go that one step ahead and how we do this’.

The game tomorrow [Monday] is another opportunity, in front of the fans, to take a step in the right direction. “These results are bad, but we’ve got good things to come.”